The last travel blog of the Race. Here it is, all 40 or so hours!
Saturday, June 9th
- 6:02am – Get up and get moving (I was awake since 5am anyway).
- 6:28am – Breakfast at KIM. Banana, cinnamon cake, scrambled eggs
With Kelly and Sarah.
- 7:12am – On the bus, packed and ready!
- 8:03am – Bus stops on an elevated bridge/entrance ramp.
- 8:05am – Driver hops off bus, gets back on and tries to start bus.
- 8:06am – In neutral and rolling backwards into traffic.
- 8:21am – Tow truck arrives to pull our charter bus, filled with ourselves and our luggage.
- 8:30am – At the airport gate, apparently we were only 1/2 mile away!
- 8:36am – Decide to send our luggage in a security car and walk the rest of the way to the terminal. (Flashback to walking 1km across the border of Romania/Bulgaria!)
- 8:56am – Inside, organized with all bags and in line.
- 9:14am – Snacks from KIM – apple, chips and juice. The lovely people at KIM certainly did take care of us well!
- 9:42am – See an entire Chinese fencing team with their matching bags 🙂
- 10:20am – Check in, go through immigration, pay exit fee to leave the country.
- 10:36am – Immigration officer likes Steph's guitar and tells her that his friend plays. His friend who is checking my passport agrees and laughs. He then tells me, "Have a good day, Hannah Montana." Really?! Everybody knows her!
- 10:45am – Steph and I make a quick stop at souvenir shops to spend our last pesos. I end up with two bottles of water and some cashews. Steph has two fish keychain/moneyholders. I'm a little jealous. 😉
- 11:11am – Tuna sandwiches at gate. (Thank you KIM and 'Ate Maloo!)
- 11:57am – Board the plane.
Carly and Steph from across the aisle.
With Becca and Ben.
- 12:15pm – Read A.W. Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy
- 1:44pm – Turbulence!
- 2:35pm – land in China.
- 3:12pm – Chinese immigration.
- 3:30pm – Security check (I've been here before and I'm prepared). Travel days are tough and weird and you're always dehydrated, so… I place a decoy, almost empty water bottle on the outside of my bag. They catch it in the scanner and throw it away. I walk away with a smile on my face and pull a full bottle out from between my rolled up shorts packed inside! That's what you get for charging me $5 at the last flight. Don't mess with me! Ha.
- 3:35pm – PB and J with a Twix.
- 4:02pm – Performance of Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On by Stephanie Chan on the flute!
- 4:40pm – Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with Sachi.
- 6:08pm – Apples and peanut butter. (There's always a lot of food and snacks on travel day. I'm not sure why…maybe the boredom and waiting…but my stomach's never appreciative.)
- 6:28pm – More Tozer.
- 6:45pm – Last Settler's of Catan game with the Rise Up crew. Congratulations to Jill Jones with the win!
Always a special place in my heart for my Rise Up family!
- 7:45pm – Reading more Tozer. Striving to finish because it's Ben's book and I have hours to return it!
- 8:05pm – Sachi and I decide to brush our teeth.
- 8:30pm – Board plane.
- 9:00pm – Tozer.
- 9:28pm – Flight attendant gives us the last form we have to fill out (finally!), a U.S. Customs declaration paper.
- 9:33pm – Take off.
- 10:20pm – Finish book. A good read 🙂
- 10:24pm – Remember my girls back home and pray for them as they're graduating in NC.
- 10:55pm – Dinner.
- 11:06pm – Sleep…or at least attempt to.
Sunday, June 10th
- 12-2:40am – Steady turbulence with a few scary times where I thought I'd be dying in the Pacific. One spot felt like I was in the back of the bus when the driver sped over a speed bump. We went airborne for a second. Fortunately enough (for my teammates anyway), they all took sleeping pills and didn't even wake or remember any of this.
- 2:42am – So hot on the plane! More attempted sleep.
- 5:35am – Now it's cold. Am I sick? Visit the bathroom, water closet or "Comfort Room" as they say in the Philippines.
- 5:45am – Feel crummy, cold and nauseous. Watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on my laptop to cheer myself up.
- 8:10am – Sleep.
- 9:05am – See land and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco!
- 9:56am – LAX. America!
Time warp/New time zone
Saturday, June 9th (again)
- 6:56pm – LAX. America!
- 7:55pm – U.S. Customs. I get nervous when the officer asks me why I was in the Philippines. I immediately respond, "Vacation!" Afterwards I realize that I don't have to lie about being a missionary anymore, I'm home! I also rejoice about making it through without a bag check considering I had an apple, orange, huge machete and some foreign DVDs. Whew!
- 8:00 – Met by most of W squad's parents with signs and cheers. Carly Brown's mom hands out homemade cookies to our squad!
- 8:10pm – Watch as my former teammate Brandon proposes to his girlfriend! Yay!
- 8:35pm – Check in for my flight to Atlanta with Taryn and Jess.
- 9:00pm – Apple and peanut butter. Yep, I smuggled my PB through American security! It's a good thing because Taryn, Jess and I all felt nauseous looking at hamburgers and BBQ restaurants.
- 9:25pm – At the gate.
- 10:18pm – Journal.
- 10:45pm – Change clothes, brush teeth and put on deodorant and makeup. Start to feel human again.
- 11:30pm – Board plane in a first class seat. Feel awkward with my tattered purse, dirty jacket and greasy hair. At least I have my classy cheap pearl earrings from the market.
- 11:35pm – Hear Dave Barnes' new song playing on the plane and remember I'm in America now!
Sunday, June 10th (again)
- 12:13am – takeoff.
- 12:15am – sleep.
- 1:37am – Start to watch Puss 'n Boots. Stewardess asks me if I want a drink and I say, "Orange juice?" It comes in a glass cup which baffles me and the guy across the aisle has a Heineken. I decide first class is odd and uncomfortable after all my travels this year but I don't complain about the leg room, blanket and spacious place to sleep.
- 3:08am – Sunrise from above the clouds. Beautiful.
- 3:56am – Arrive in Atlanta. (Time change for the last time!) 6:56am.
- 7:25am – Starbuck's for banana-walnut bread and a hot chocolate.
- 7:35am – Say goodbye to Taryn and Jess
- 7:45am – At the last gate waiting for my flight to Charlotte.
- 8:46am – board.
- 9:38am – Takeoff
- 9:45am – iPod.
- 10:18am – land in North Carolina!
- 10:40am – sneak up on my family at baggage claim 🙂 Lots of hugs and photos.
Caleb, Doug, Mom and Dad came to pick me up 🙂
- 10:57am – head for home as Dad carries my big pack.
- 11:15am – lunch stop at Moe's Southwest Grill for a burrito and some nachos!
Halfway through the meal I noticed I was eating rice and frowned. Still, it was sooo good!
- 12:30pm – walk through the door. Explore all the new additions and fun things in my house. Take some time to realize that I'm really HOME!
Hanging out in the new sunroom at our house.
And that's it folks. The end of the World Race. Now it's time to journal, look through photos and laugh as I always remember this journey. It's also time to hit the ground running and be excited and expectant about how the Lord will use me in America. Well, maybe the running will start next week. Resting sounds good for now!
